Sunday Summary – June 7, 2015

School’s out! Mosquitoes are out! It must be summer in Minnesota! This week Minneapolis made its first appearance as the first US city in the Copenhagenize Index with the note “America – often content with baby steps – is in desperate need of leadership cities and Minneapolis has emerged as a contender” and closer to home streets.mn writer Sean Hayford O’Leary was all over the League of American Bicyclists social media promotion of an article in its American Bicyclist magazine for helping lead Richfield to be the first Bike Friendly Suburb in the Twin Cities in 2013. Streets.mn, of course, leads the way on many issues and here’s what we’re writing about this week:

Keeping Right? is not about distracted driving, but about speed limits, speeding, giving way to faster traffic and why people justify speeding and other bad habits. Commenters continue to debate speed, moving right and justification for building more lanes.

Meanwhile, in Saint Paul,Thune and the Port Authority Quietly Neuter Walkability on Saint Paul’s West Side itemizes and critiques last minute changes to the West Side Flats Master Plan made just before a vote to adopt the plan (this past Friday). The several years of community input and planning to begin to transform this industrial area by reconnecting the walkable street grid, building minimal surface parking, and increasing green space in the plan appear to have been quickly edited out of the picture in favor of protecting current interests.

But back in Minneapolis, a thought experiment to imagine how the city could make greater density legal asks What if We Upzoned All of Minneapolis Tomorrow? and shows how the sky would not fall, but infill and redevelopment at a scale even more compatible with the historic pattern could occur.

West Side Flats area

Current events and hot topics

The Soccer Stadium Should Pay Taxes provides a recap of stadium financing issues, disputes the notion that tax breaks are required to show interest in professional sports franchises and asserts that other valuable businesses (like grocery stores, for example) pay taxes while providing valuable goods and services. Commenters bring up public vs. private ownership of stadiums, suggest that perhaps refusing tax breaks wouldn’t be the deal breaker some believe, and generally continue to discuss the dollars, impact and politics. Or, the stadium could be located on land already tax exempt: Put the MLS Stadium on the Snelling-University Bus Barn Site with its tax exempt status, transit connections, redevelopment opportunities and more. The comments section includes thinking about a cap over I-94 for parking and much insider knowledge about soccer here and elsewhere.

Whose Roads? Not Yours! takes on-line comments following the recent U.S. Eastern District Court ruling that the Wisconsin DOT failed to adequately explain traffic projections or account for updated demographic data when deciding to expand Highway 23 to point to the need for a discussion which robustly revisits highway funding formulas.